Tropicadelic: The Immersive And Colorful World Of Namsa Leuba

Namsa Leuba's work has garnered global acclaim and has been exhibited in numerous galleries and museums worldwide. Her photography sparks conversations about cultural representation, heritage, and the significance of visual narratives.

Influenced by her background in art and design (she graduated from ECAL with a Master’s Degree in Art Direction after a Bachelor in Photography), Leuba often collaborates across disciplines to create projects that merge fashion, art, and culture. From working with big-names fashion houses like Dior on an exclusive Lady Dior bag, to more personal documentary project such as Zulu Kids,  her work presents a fresh and vital perspective on visual storytelling, challenging assumptions and fostering dialogues on cultural understanding.

Now with her latest exhibition Tropicadelic, Leuba uses photography to question the colonial gaze on exoticism, African and Polynesian identities. She has been dedicated to deconstruct the stereotypes perpetuated by art history and the ethnocentric gaze.

While imagining and staging her own rituals, Namsa Leuba creates an immersive and fantastical, almost psychedelic installation for the creatures that inhabit her universe. A sort of tropical paradise adorned with symbols, animistic references, fantasies, and fetishes, this space questions the sacredness and legitimacy of the policies that dictate all perspectives on both sides of cultures. She also offers the perspective of Maori people on gender identity with the Mahu (effeminate men) and Rau Rau (trans women) without fetishizing them, but rather by shedding light on their beauty which emancipates itself from occidental standards.  

The exhibition will remain until December 17th at La Ferme Des Tilleuls. It’s currently not accessible by car, but rather by bus 17 and 19, Sous l’Eglise.

Image courtesy of Namsa Leuba